Sandman Talks Re-Up Gang, New Mixtape

HeetRock.com recently caught up with Sandman of Re-Up Gang fame on the set of an upcoming music video. Sandman discussed the latest project he’s got lined up, a mixtape called Mt. Crushmore. He explained that in a departure from his previous efforts, the mixtape will be comprised entirely of freestyles over other artists’ beats.

“[Mt. Crushmore] is 100% freestyles,” he explained. “I’m known for putting original music on mixtapes and all that shit, but my man [DJ] Clark Kent told me to chill on all that. He said I’ve been giving [the fans] too much on my mixtapes [and to] dumb it down. The only ‘dumbed down’ I do is to get off of my beats and fuck up some other peoples’ [beats]…we grabbed a lot of beats that I’m a fan of…I don’t want to say which ones.”

Sandman also discussed his former super-group the Re-Up Gang, which featured the Clipse and fellow Philly emcee Ab-Liva. In the wake of the group’s break-up in 2008, Sandman explained that he learned a lot about the Hip Hop industry from his experience in the Gang, particularly with regards to working with the Internet and planning business deals.

“Shout out to all my Re-Up Gang fans,” he said. “[There were] two things [that I learned from Re-Up Gang]: number one, I learned the whole experience of the Internet…the whole Re-Up thing was birthed on the Internet. Three mixtapes made us legendary. No videos, we ain’t release or push no original records…I also learned that the money is on the road. You got to hit that road, not just for the bread, but to keep your name known, push your brand and fuck with the people that fuck with you…and I learned that when you’re doing business, business has got to be good from the get-go. It can’t be like we think we’re going to do this or we may do this; it’s got to be etched in stone. We’ve got to know our game plan and execute it.”